Financial Lessons Learned From Lime Hard Candy

As we’re immersed in life, we’re also immersed in the lessons which life teaches us. We are amazing creatures, capable of making even the most spurious correlations and connections – our ability to synthesize, when compared to other mammals, is top-of-the-line. What better way to talk and teach about finance than to make lime hard candy?

Lemon candies are everywhere. You can find lemonheads, lemon drops, lemon cough drops, lemon this, and lemon that. Lime? Not so much. Limes taste better, they’re more exotic, and they were the perfect candidate for making candies because of this perceived rarity.

Choose Your End Goal

Now, your finances aren’t the same as creating lime candies. After all, if you put the same ingredients into the mix, you can end up with a lot more things than just a pile of moey at the end. YOu can end up with a trip to Jamaica or your house paid off, or countless jubilant people singing your praises because you gave them some cash. You need to choose the end goal that you seek when it comes to your money situation, else you’ll have a giant goop of materials and nothing done.

Have the Right Tools

After deciding that I was making lime candy, I had to get a baking pan, a sauce pan, the candy thermometer, something to stir with, and the other materials together. What I found was that having a wide pot doesn’t work as well as a smaller saucepan because the candy thermometer isn’t totally immersed. I couldn’t get an accurate reading of the temperature.

Different tools work for different people. With making candies, there’s a specific way that has been tried so many times that it’s been crowdsourced to be the best. With finances, there are a number of tools out there. I like having all of my information in front of me – and as such, I’m really starting to get into the use of Manilla. Think of it like supercharged organization software for real folks.

A Little Goes a Long Way

Confectioner’s sugar goes everywhere, if you let it. My shirt is still covered in the white powder, and I somehow get the feeling that I’m going to be covered in it for a long time – even after doing laundry. I’m very happy that it’s not glitter (called ‘craft herpes’ by some), but it’s still pretty pervading. And a little bit goes a LONG way.

We are incredibly resourceful as individuals, and we can find ways to entertain ourselves and not spend a dime. Not only do we have a lot of tools at our disposal, but there’s a lot of awesome imagination flowing here, too. A little bit of cash can go a long log way if you’re thinking about how little you can spend.

Timing is Essential

There is a point where you have to take the mixture off of the stove and pour it onto your baking sheet. Once the candy has been poured, you need to wait about a minute or two before starting to cut the candy into squares. Too early, and you’re using the knife to lift everything up with it – making a goopy mess. Too late, and the candy itself has hardened to the point where you can’t do anything other than break off a piece.

There are several reasons to time out your finances well. One, you need to make sure that you’re getting the maximum for your dollar – some places don’t allow you to carry over a credit. For many, money is hard to get a hold of, so might as well spend it as effectively as possible. That timing can give a little bit of leeway or feel like it’s being wasted. Your choice.

Looks like Crap, Still Tastes Good

No, there are no pictures of this lime candy. It’s not pretty, though. There’s confectioner’s sugar everywhere, candy has the great ability to shatter into a ton of pieces, and those pieces are not wrapped up all nicenice for other people’s consumption. It’s quite rough, but extremely functional as far as candy goes. Actually, I plan on making more of this for later.

The diference between being a dreamer and being a doer is that a doer will put whatever they’re doing out there and then try to make it better later. The dreamer will try to perfect whatever it is before they put it out, running the risk of never getting it out there. You don’t have to have a perfect budgeting plan, you just need to have a plan.

Here’s the recipe for lime candy:

Before starting, take your baking sheet, cover it with wax paper, then dust the whole thing with confectioners sugar. Don’t go crazy with the dusting – just enough to cover the whole thing.

The wax paper keeps everything from sticking to the baking sheet. The confectioners sugar keeps your mixture from sticking to the wax paper.

Attach the candy thermometer to the pot, making sure that the bulb doesn’t directly touch the bottom. Turn on the heat and start stirring. Stir until the sugar is dissolved in the water and it starts boiling.

Keep working at it until the temperature reaches 300-310 degrees (hard crack stage). It will take around 10 minutes, and you have to keep an eye on it.

When the temp reaches 300-310, turn off the heat and add the flavoring, giving it a slight stir so it permeates the entire mixture. Pour the mix onto the baking sheet, making sure that it’s evenly spread.

The mix will start cooling immediately. After a minute or two, test to see if you can cut the newly poured mixture without it lifting everything else with it. When you’re able to do that, start cutting the sheet to get the candy into pieces.

Run your knife down, then across, making little squares. Keep doing it until you’re not able to separate the pieces anymore. After it’s cooled slightly, you’ve got candy! Awesome, awesome lime candy.